Peru’s fishermen battle China’s overseas fleet

Large ships luring squid catches from locals

ABOARD THE OCEAN WARRIOR in the eastern Pacific Ocean – José López proudly remembers his first catch: He was 13 and a local skipper, pitying his ragamuffin look, hired him as an extra hand. When he returned home, his pockets stuffed with a day’s wages, his mother protested.

“She thought I had stolen the money,” López recalls between boisterous greetings to younger comrades who know him simply as “Pépe.” “I had to take to her to the fisherman so she would believe me.”

Since then, fishing has been a way of life for López and dozens of other artisanal fishermen in Pucusana, a port carved from the barren, desert-like hills south of Peru’s capital. For years the fleet thrived, earning López enough to buy a few boats and send his kids to college.

But a decade ago the tuna that he once effortlessly fished started to vanish. So, the fishermen turned their brightly colored boats bearing the names of Roman Catholic icons to squid.

Now they face a new threat: China’s distant water fishing fleet.

The number of Chinese-flagged vessels lurking just outside Peru’s waters has surged from 54 active vessels in 2009 to 557 in 2020, according to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization, an intergovernmental group charged with ensuring the sustainable fishing of squid. Meanwhile, the size of the Chinese catch has grown from 70,000 tons in 2009 to 358,000 tons.

The Chinese fishing takes place on the high seas – beyond the reach of any nation’s jurisdiction – and at night when lights so powerful they can be seen from space are used to attract swarms of the fast-flying squid.

“It really is like the Wild West out

PHOTOS BY MARTIN MEJIA/AP Fishermen prepare their boats before going out to sea in Pucusana, Peru. To compete with the Chinese, the local fishermen of Pucusana assume ever-greater risks, venturing farther out from home and spending as much as a week at sea to haul in what they used to catch in a single day closer to shore.

Fisherman José López shows a piece of squid in Pucusana, Peru. Fishing has been a way of life for López and dozens of other artisanal fishermen in Pucusana, a port carved from the barren, desert-like hills south of Peru’s capital.